(JED/IFEX) – During a 13 August 2004 press conference at her home in Kinshasa/Gombe, Marie-Ange Mushobekwa, host of the programme “A coeur ouvert” on the private television network Antenne A, said she has received five anonymous calls in two weeks threatening her with death. “You are playing with people’s lives, you want to play the […]
(JED/IFEX) – During a 13 August 2004 press conference at her home in Kinshasa/Gombe, Marie-Ange Mushobekwa, host of the programme “A coeur ouvert” on the private television network Antenne A, said she has received five anonymous calls in two weeks threatening her with death. “You are playing with people’s lives, you want to play the star. Be aware that we can bring you down without any problem,” said one of the callers.
On 29 July, to mark the fifth anniversary of the programme “A coeur ouvert”, Mushobekwa rebroadcast the first-ever edition of the show that she produced on 11 July 1999, which featured an appearance by Jeannot Bemba Saolana, the father of Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. At the time, Bemba Saolana was the economy minister for the late President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his son, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, was the head of the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement (Mouvement pour la libération du Congo, MLC).
During the show, which is much debated today, Bemba Saloana called his son a “puppet of the Ugandans” and said he had “blood on his hands,” before asking how he would make amends for this at the end of the war. Today, Bemba Saloana is a senator for the MLC, which became a political party as a result of a comprehensive agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa.
“At end of the rebroadcast of this first show, I received a call from Thomas Luhaka, the MLC’s secretary-general, who asked me if I had been corrupted in order to rebroadcast this show, which sullies Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba’s reputation,” said the journalist during the press conference. She also alleged that Luhaka asked her if it was not Antoine Ghonda, the former MLC foreign affairs minister fired from the transitional government at Jean-Pierre Bemba’s personal request, who had sponsored the show’s rebroadcast to take revenge on the MLC leader.
The journalist also stated that the vice president called Antenne A’s director-general personally to complain about the show’s rebroadcast. Following Bemba Gombo’s complaint, the journalist said her employer demanded an explanation from her.
On 12 August, Bemba Saloana held a press conference at his home during which he reportedly said, citing Mushobekwa by name, that the only reason for the show’s rebroadcast was “to poison Bemba family relations.” This press conference was broadcast on Antenne A.
Mushobekwa says her honour has been tarnished by the suspicions of corruption and that she feels completely unsafe.
